1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card ejection device and to a card connector using the same, such as a card connector for memory cards, PC cards, compact flash cards or cards which may be used in notebook-sized personal computers or portable terminal devices.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown in FIG. 7, a conventional card ejection device comprises a rectangular casing 2 of synthetic resin for holding two cards at upper and lower stages, two rotary levers 3 pivoted with a pin 8 to the rear side of the casing 2, two ejection levers 4 slidably attached to one side of the casing 2 with their rear ends loosely connected to one ends of the rotary levers 3, and with their front ends press-fitted in first buttons 5 of synthetic resin, which are pivoted to second buttons 6 of synthetic resin to permit the second buttons 6 to turn 90 degrees relative to the first buttons 5.
As seen from FIG. 8, a card 1 is inserted in a selected compartment of the casing 2 as indicated by arrow in FIG. 8, and then, as shown in FIG. 9(A), as the rotary lever 3 is pushed by the card 1, it is made to turn about the pin 8, so that the ejection lever 4 is moved in the direction opposite to the direction in which the card 1 is inserted.
Thus, the first and second buttons 5 and 6 are pushed out until the second button 6 appears beyond the front edge of the casing 7, as seen from FIG. 9(A). Then, the second button 6 is made to turn 90 degrees relative to the first button 5 so that the second button 6 may be flush with the front edge of the casing 7, as seen from FIG. 9(B).
The card ejection device has two buttons 5 and 6 of synthetic resin attached to the ejection lever 4 of metal, and use of two different buttons 5 and 6 increases the number of assembling steps and the manufacturing cost. Also, disadvantageously when the second button 6 is pushed and integrally combined with the first button 5, the second button 6 is unstable and shaky relative to the first button 5, thus making it somewhat difficult to effect ejection of the card 1 from the casing with the aid of the second button 6. When the second button 6 turns 90 degrees for rest position, it cannot stay in stable condition because of lack of means for positively holding the second button 6 at correct position.